Chapter 21 - Elsa Sees Marcelline Again
Two years passed before Elsa asked.
She was nine.
“Can I see Aunt Marcelline?”
I stopped cutting an apple.
“Why?”
“Just want.”
Dr. Shaw explored.
No pressure.
No family holiday requirement.
No trust issue.
Elsa said:
“I want to know if she’s still scary.”
That was honest.
Therapeutic meeting.
Neutral office.
Marcelline arrived early.
Simple navy dress.
No diamonds.
No attempt to look smaller theatrically.
Elsa sat beside Dr. Shaw.
I waited in another room.
Marcelline said:
“Hi.”
Elsa:
“Hi.”
Silence.
Then Elsa asked:
“Why did you push me?”
Marcelline cried immediately.
Not ideal.
She composed herself.
“Because I was angry and thought I had the right to make you do what I wanted.”
Good.
“Did you want me fall?”
“No.”
“Could I?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know?”
Marcelline paused.
“I knew stairs were there. I did not think hard enough about what could happen.”
Accurate.
Then Elsa:
“Did you hate Dad?”
“Sometimes I was very angry with him.”
“Did you hate me?”
Marcelline’s face broke.
“No.”
Elsa looked at Dr. Shaw.
Then:
“But you hurt me.”
Marcelline nodded.
“Yes.”
There.
Love does not erase harm.
Harm does not automatically prove absence of every loving feeling.
Children can understand that with careful adults around them.
Meeting lasted thirty minutes.
No hug.
At end Elsa said:
“Maybe again later.”
Her choice.
Marcelline accepted.
May you like
That acceptance did more for future contact than tears.
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